Comprehension of biostatistics and principles of research design is important for literature evaluation and evidencebased practice in dentistry as well as for researchers wishing to have their publications accepted by international journals. This study investigated the contribution of several factors to postgraduate dental student performance in a biostatistics and research design course. All of the subjects in this study were dental school graduates currently enrolled in postgraduate programs leading to master's or doctoral degrees. The seven factors selected for study were 1) learning style preferences assessed by the VARK questionnaire, 2) past academic performance at the bachelor's degree level, 3) age, 4) gender, 5) current postgraduate program (master's or Ph.D.), 6) lecture attendance, and 7) performance on a quiz conducted early in the course. Response rate was 64 percent. Using bivariate analysis, a statistically significant relationship was observed between final exam score and the following factors: bachelor's degree grade; having single or multiple learning preferences; having visual, aural, read-write, or kinesthetic learning style preference; percent of lectures attended; and quiz score (P<0.0001, 0.01, 0.02, 0.006, 0.04, 0.03, 0.03, and <0.0001 respectively). In regression analysis, significant predictors of final exam score were bachelor's degree grade, having aural learning preference, and quiz score. The findings suggest that dental educators should direct their attention to students who have difficulties at the beginning of the course and should match the learning preferences of as many students as possible by presenting information in different ways rather than focusing on a single method of delivering the course.

Increasing importance is attached to teaching generic skills to undergraduate students in various disciplines. This article describes an extracurricular, student-led activity for teaching generic skills using the Model United Nations over three months. The activity used the Health Care Simulation Model (HCSM) with peer learning and role-playing to accomplish its objectives. An interview was used to select from undergraduate and postgraduate dental students at Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt, to develop a group of staff to act as peer teachers after receiving training (n=77). These peer teachers provided training for 123 undergraduate dental students to serve as delegates who acted as trainees or peer learners. At the end of the training sessions, a conference was held in which the students played the roles of delegates representing oficials responsible for health care systems in ten countries. The students reported improvement in generic skills, enjoyed several aspects of the experience, and disliked other aspects of the model to a lesser extent. In multivariate analysis, perceived usefulness of the HCSM was signiicantly greater for staff than delegates and increased as self-reported improvement in knowledge of health care systems increased. This study suggests that innovative, student-centered educational methods can be effective for teaching generic skills and factual information.

This article reports the findings of a study conducted to evaluate a blog used in a dental terminology course. The blog was established using free online software to provide more learning exercises for students and to collect feedback about course proceedings. The instructor posted exercises such as multiple choice and true/false questions and invited students to publish answers. Students were also encouraged to post comments about difficult parts of the course that needed clarification. Students contributed 149 comments, mostly as answers in response to thirteen posts of exercises over three months. All users of the blog who responded to a questionnaire considered it useful, and most of them expressed the opinion that blogs should be used in other courses. The main reason that students reported for not using the blog was lack of time. Statistically significant differences in examination performance existed between students who used the blog and those who did not. Based on these findings, the blog achieved its purposes, which were to enhance instructor communication with students and provide students with practice exercises to improve their understanding of dental terminology. Further research about the application of blogging and its potential to enhance dental education is needed.

No abstract

The use of the Internet in health professions education has markedly increased in recent years. There is a need to understand the methods used by students to benefit from Internet-based teaching methods, especially those initially designed to promote social interaction such as blogs. This study describes how students used a blog in a biostatistics and research design graduate dental course. The aims of the blog were to offer exercises to train students for the exam and to enhance interaction among students and between students and instructor. Some features of the blog were modified to suit the course. Posts and comments were counted and classified by type, and their time statistics were analyzed. Students filled out a questionnaire to indicate whether and how exactly they used the blog or reasons for not using it. The relation between final exam scores and different methods of using the blog was assessed. Most of the posts were by the instructor offering exercises and model answers, whereas most of the comments were by students answering the exercises. Students were significantly more satisfied with blog uses related to interaction than with uses related to exercises (9.15±1.19, 8.73±1.34, P=0.001). The most frequently cited reason for not using the blog was lack of time. The most frequently reported method of using the blog was reading exercises and answers without actively contributing to the blog. Methods of using the blog significantly associated with higher scores in the final exam were actively contributing to the blog by posts or comments and interacting with colleagues. The main advantage of using the blog was promoting interaction between students and instructor, which is essential for the success of online learning in particular and adult learning in general.

This study assessed the eficacy of Second Life (SL) in delivering lectures and demonstrating clinical procedures. Sixteen students in a dental school in Alexandria, Egypt, volunteered to participate in SL to learn about topical luoride through lectures and YouTube videos demonstrating the application of luoride gel. This was followed by face to face (F2F) sessions about pits and issures sealant including lectures and F2F demonstration. Knowledge improvement was assessed by pre-and posttests; practical skills were assessed by a checklist; and percent scores were calculated. The relation between these scores and some background variables was assessed. Students' satisfaction with and perceptions of SL were also assessed. Knowledge improved signiicantly after both SL and F2F experiences (p<0.0001 for both). There were no signiicant differences between SL and F2F in knowledge improvement or skills percent scores (p=0.16 and 0.26, respectively). Knowledge improvement was signiicantly related to previous experience with SL and previous year grade (p=0.02 and 0.007, respectively) but not to gender. Practical skills scores were not related to any of these three variables. Satisfaction with SL experience was high and not affected by any of the three variables, and the experience was perceived positively. This study suggests that SL can complement traditional F2F teaching, especially for underachieving students and in higher education institutions with problems of increasing numbers of students and limited space.Dr. El Tantawi is Associate Professor,